De Blasio: Not So Dangerous

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio brushed off criticism from Senate GOP Leader Dean Skelos that his agenda is “dangerous” and that his support for a Democratic-controlled Senate would be problematic for the rest of the state.

Skelos, on The Capitol Press Room this morning, said de Blasio’s agenda passing a Democratic-controlled Senate would be “the worst thing” for the state.

“If you look at his agenda, I think it’s dangerous for this state,” Skelos said. “You have his candidates running for the Senate or running for re-election around this state.”

Obviously, de Blasio disagrees, saying full control of the Senate by Democrats would help middle-income people.

“I think helping working people reach the middle class is what the state needs,” he said according to a transcript. “So, if somehow, Senator Skelos thinks it’s dangerous that people would get better wages and benefits, I don’t understand that. I think we need to uplift our working people. They’re struggling. And right now, we have an opportunity to act here in this city, so we’re acting with every tool we have to help working families. We need to do that across the state of New York. And that’s why we need a Democratic state senate majority.”

Meanwhile, de Blasio insisted Gov. Andrew Cuomo remains on board with a plan to allow local governments to increase the state’s minimum wage on its own, based on a state formula even after the governor maneuvered to alter an initial proposal for pre-Kindergarten in New York City that took the idea statewide.

“The governor said very clearly this spring that he supports the minimum wage increase, he supports indexing, he supports local opportunity to adjust minimum wage within the context of the state law. He said it repeatedly. And I take him at his word, and I look forward to following through with a new Democratic Senate,” de Blasio said.

This entry was posted by Nick Reisman on September 30, 2014 at 4:28 pm, and is filed under Bill de Blasio. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.